Draft appliance for railway-cars.



2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

Patented Mar. 26, 1912.

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VIII/11011114 W. MoGONWAY, JR-

DRAFT APPLIANGE FOR RAILWAY CARS.

APYIQIOATION FILED 00131, 1911.

WILLIAM McCONWAY, .na, or I'IT'rsBunGII, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOB 'ro THEMCCONWAY & TOBLEY COMPANY, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, A. CORPORA-'IION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

Imam APPLIANCE ,Ion nniLwnv-cnns.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM MoCoN- WAY, J r., a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Pittsburgh, in the county of Allegheny and State ofPennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in DraftAppliances for Railway- Cars; and I do hereby declare the following tobe a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as willenable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and usethe same.

My invention relates to the construction.

of draft appliances for railway cars and is especially directed to theproduction of simple, compact and eflicient devices for supporting thecoupler so as to permitit to readily yield vertically when the car towhich it is attached passes over vertical curves in the track.

Generally stated, the principal featured the invention consists inslidably mounting upon a vertically movable coupler a follower which ismovable'vertically with re-' spect to said coupler, a spring which iscar-' r1ed by" the coupler being interposed between the follower andcoupler, and'the follower being supported by a yoke or carry ironthrough WlllCll the coupler extends and with respect to which thecoupler is capable of vertical movement.

In the drawings illustrating my inven-" tion, thescope whereof ispointed out in the claims, Figure 1 is a plan view of a draft applianceembodying my invention; Fig. 2 is a view, partly in side elevation andpartly in vertical central section, illustrating the devices shown inFig; 1; Fig. 3 is a detail view, partly in plan and partly in horizontalcentral section, showing the coupler and the devices by which it isyieldingly supported at its outer end;,Fig. 4 is a detall verticalsection taken in the plane of the line 14, Fig. 3; and Fig. 5 is adetail vertical section'.taken in the plane of the line 5-5, Fig. 4. y

Like symbols refer to like parts wherever they occur.

I will now roceed to describe my invention more ully, so that othersskilled in the art to which it appertains may apply the same.-

. As myinvention is especially applicable to draft appliances whichareused on in- Specification of Letters Patent. Application filed October31, 1911. Serialli'o. 657,819.

, Patented Mar. 26, 1912.

tical curves in the track are sharp and generally numerous, I haveillustrated it as applied to a coupler which is pivotall connected tothe car so as to be capa 1e of swlnging laterally in both directionsfrom a central position.

terurban care, where horizontal and ver- In the form of constructionillustrated in the drawings, the coupler 1 is yieldingly and pivotallyconnected to the car through the intervention of a draft riggingcomprising a casing or housing 2 which is open at 1ts outer end andwhich is provided with a detachable bottom 3 which permits the 5, thedraft spring eing interposed beinsertion of a draft s ring 4 andfollowerstween the followers, and a 'yoke 6, which I is attached to thecoupler, passing around said followers in the usual well lmown manner.The rear end of the draft gear casing 2 is provided with an aperturethatreceives a bolt 7 which pivotally connects the casing '2 to a supportingbracket 8 which is' rigidly" attached to the car frame.

As a convenient means for connecting the coupler to the car so as topermit it to move vertically, the rear end of said coufpler may bepivotally connected to the dra yoke 6 by means of a horizontally.extending ivot I 'bolt 9, the inner end of the'coupler ing preferablyformed with rounded edges, as

at 10, 10, which, when. the coupler moves either upwardly or downwardlyfrom its normal position, as indicated in dotted lines I in Fig. 2,operate as cams to force the adjacent forward follower 5 rearwa'rdlys ashort distance, the compression of the draft spring 4 bein maintaining te coupler at the proper height above the rails. o

The forward end of the coupler 1 is supthus utilized in normallyportedfronrthe car by a yoke or carry iron 1 11 which, if the coliplerbe pivotally movable laterally as in the present'instance, may beadvantageously arranged to slide upon the flanges 12 of a curvedsupporting rail having plates or brackets 13- and 14. by

. which it may be bolted to the under sideof thecar, the carry iron 11bein provided at its upper end with inwar y projecting flanges 11'forming a slot of T cross section which receives the correspondinglyshaped supporting rail from which the carry iron depends. Forconvenience of assembly the carry iron 11 may have a detachable bottom11, which is secured to the body of the carry iron by means of bolts'15.

Seated upon the bottom 11 of the carry iron 11 is a follower 16. havinarms 16" which extend u wardlyon opposite sides of the coupler 1, tecoupler, as more particularly shown in Figs. 3 and 4 being providedupon each side with vertically extending ribs 1' forming guideways whichreceive the arms 16 of the follower.

Upon its interior the coupler 1 is formed with a spring-seat l which isarranged in alinement with an aperture 1 in the coupler through which a.spring 17 projects, the upper end of said spring being seated upon thespring seat 1 and its lower end resting upon a-corresponding spring-seat16 formed on theupper face of the follower 16. The extent of upwardmovement of the coupler with respect to the follower is preferablylimited by means of a vertically extending bolt 18 which loosely passes.through both the coupler 1 and follower 16, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5.

When a car equipped with ances embodying my invention passes oververtical curves in the track the coupler moves upwardly or downwardly asthe case may require. In moving downwardly from its normal position thecoupler slides vertically with respect to the follower 16', thusenergizing the spring 17 so that it may subsequently return the couplerto normal position. In moving upwardly from its normal position, as theheight of the opening in the yoke or carry iron 11 permits it to do, thecoupler 1, acting through the bolt 18, lifts the follower 16 from itsseat upon the carry-iron 11, the weight of the parts being sufficient tocause their return to normal position.

.As heretofore described, it is preferred to so form the rear end of thecoupler and to so connect it to the draft gear that a vertical movementof the coupler 1 in either direction from its normal position causes thedraft spring 4 to be slightly compressed, since the draft spring 4 isthus utilized, not

draft applionly yieldingly'maintain the coupler: in a verticallycentralized position, but also to assist the supporting spring 17 inraising the coupler afterit has been depressed and to assist the forceof gravity in restoring the coupler to. normal position after it hasbeen elevated.

As the follower 16, moves with the coupler during any longitudinalmovement of draft and bufling, the bottom plate 11 of the supportingyoke or carry-iron 11 should be made wide enough to extend under thefollower 16 when the coupler is in any position it may assume inservice.

I claim:

1. In a draft appliance for railway cars, the combination with avertically movable coupler having a spring seat upon its interior andguideways upon its exterior, of a follower having upwardly extendingportions which are slidable in the corresponding guideways upon theexterior of the-coupler,

and a spring resting upon said follower and upon the said spring seat'of the coupler.

2. In a draft appliance for railway cars, the combination w1th avertically movable coupler having a spring seat upon its interior and aspring receiving aperture in alinement therewith, a follower havingupwardly extending portions which slidably engage the coupler, saidfollower and coupler being relatively movable. vertically, a

WILLIAM MoCONWAY, J 11..

Witnesses G110. W. MoCANDLEss, J OHN KONSTANZER.

